,
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sparked an uproar after an apparent slip of the tongue in which he for the first time listed Israel as a nuclear power, but few expected the blunder to alter the Jewish state's “policy of nuclear ambiguity.”
Israel, widely considered the Middle East's sole nuclear power, has for decades refused to admit or deny whether it has the atomic bomb.
But on Monday, Olmert appeared to break the taboo in an interview with a German television station as he began a visit to Berlin.
“We never threatened any nation with annihilation,” Olmert told the N24 Sat1 station, speaking in English.
“Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as France, America, Russia and Israel?” he asked.
Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin was quick to deny that Olmert had admitted to Israel having nuclear weapons, saying that “Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region.”
The Israeli premier stuck to the same line on Tuesday, telling a news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region. That is our policy and it has not changed. There is no need to explain it any further.”
But the blunder — which came less than a week after Israeli officials rounded on the incoming US defense secretary Robert Gates for the same slip-up during his Senate confirmation hearings — sparked outrage, with lawmakers from across the political spectrum calling on the premier to resign.
“The staggering comments of Ehud Olmert only serve to reinforce the doubts on his capacity to remain prime minister,” said leftist MP Yossi Beilin.
Right-wing opposition Likud MP Yuval Steinitz called on Olmert to step down after having made “an irresponsible slip which puts into question a policy that dates back almost half a century.”
Meanwhile observers warned that Olmert's statement threatened to undercut efforts by Israel and the West to prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes and the West fears is a cover for acquiring atomic weapons.
Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in jail after blowing the whistle on Israel's nuclear program in 1986, welcomed the premier's remarks.
“Olmert's remark is nothing new, but it is a good thing that Israel decided to make it public,” he told AFP. “The world should now not only talk about Iran but also about Israel as a nuclear threat that has to be dealt with in order to make a nuclear-free Middle East and bring peace.”
But in scrambling to contain the damage, Israeli officials said Olmert's slip would not change the decades-old policy of keeping mum on whether the country has atomic weapons.
“I support the policy of ambiguity and I don't see Olmert's statement as a declaration that Israel has nuclear weapons,” Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told army radio.
“I would suggest that all those who want to talk about the issue, for God's sake and for the sake of Israel's security, stop it,” he said.
Said a senior government official: “This is a real slip of the tongue which was not planned. It is embarrassing for Israel, particularly when it is dealing with such a sensitive issue. But this does not change a thing. Our policy stays the same.”
Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity dates back to the early 1960s, to an agreement struck with the United States and France.
Under this policy, the Jewish state would not carry out any nuclear tests and stay silent on the issue in order to prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council demanded the application of the UN charter's Chapter Seven on Israel after Olmert's Monday statement.
“We call for application against Israel of Chapter VII, that is to say, the imposition of sanctions,” Secretary General Abderrahman al-Attiya said in Kuwait.
He urged the United States not to apply a policy of “double standards” and to “work for the application (against Israel) of the resolutions of international legitimacy and of Chapter VII.”
Chapter VII deals with action the UN Security Council might take regarding threats to the peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression.
